International Trade and Industries Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said Malaysia maintains close relations with other economic powerhouses such as Japan and China as well as Asean and various Muslim nations.

“We are friends with everyone… That is our policy,” he said, adding that he was positive over Malaysia’s trade partnership with China.

US President Barack Obama mooted the TPP, a trade pact involving 12 nations around the Pacific Rim, including the US, Japan and Australia.

The move is seen as a counterweight to China’s dominance in manufacturing, but Trump has been against free trade from the onset and observers expect the president-elect to curtail the pact during his first few weeks in office.